A Few More Things Kejriwal Wants

We all know what cause Arvind Kejriwal’s new party is championing: fighting corruption through a strong lokpal, an independent ombudsman.

But what positions will his party take on other issues?

Mr. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi party, the party of the common man, officially launched earlier this week. A party pamphlet distributed at the launch offered a glimpse of what stand it would take on matters other than tackling corruption.

Here are some of them:

1. Reservations: The party favors reservation of jobs and places in higher education for people who are economically disadvantaged. At the moment, the Indian government sets aside 49.5% of places for people who belong to groups that come at the bottom of India’s caste hierarchy, like Dalits, and other groups that are socially discriminated against. There are no reservations for people that are just financially backward.

2. Women: The party also supports setting aside 33% of seats in national and state legislatures for female representatives. This is something the Congress party-led government is also in favor of. A bill that would introduce reservations for women is currently pending parliamentary approval.

3. Farmers’ Rights: The Aam Aadmi Party wants land acquisition issues to be resolved locally, through the approval of village-level administration. Without its backing, they say land should not be confiscated from farmers and sold, regardless of the purpose. In a bid to overhaul India’s colonial-era land acquisition legislation, the government is working on a bill that would stipulate the rules and compensation amount for acquiring land for industry or other projects.

4. Rising Prices: This is a proposal that is guaranteed to make many economists uncomfortable. In its pamphlet, the party says that the “price of critical commodities should be determined with people’s consent.” The manifesto doesn’t elaborate on who the people are, nor on how the party plans to tackle India’s yawning fiscal deficit. The party also calls for the price of petrol, diesel and gas cylinders to be reduced “immediately”.

5. Rising Prices II: While prices remain high, Mr. Kejriwal last month suggested people should just stop paying their bills as a form of civil disobedience. (For others, this qualifies as breaking the law). The move was aimed at putting pressure on the Delhi government to roll back the recent increase in power and water tariffs.

6. Right to Recall: This is the Aam Aadmi Party’s way of increasing the accountability of politicians: they want to introduce a law that would allow people to remove elected officials from their post before their term ends.

7. Right to Reject: They also want to add a “reject all” button to all electronic voting machines, enabling voters to show their dislike for all candidates.

What do political scientists think of this agenda? Not much. For Sanjay Kumar, senior fellow at the Center for Study of Developing Societies, a New Delhi-based think tank, the overall tone of the Aam Aadmi Party is excessively “populist.”

While his political agenda still needs some fine tuning, broadening the focus of the party beyond fighting corruption will likely improve the Aam Aadmi Party’s chances at the polls. The party plans to present itself at state elections in New Delhi and Madhya Pradesh next year.

Mr. Kumar says it is “difficult to predict” what kind of impact the Aam Aadmi Party will have at the polls. “But it is an effort worth watching,” he says.

Do you think people of India will vote for Mr. Kejriwal’s Aam Admi Party? Please share your views in the Comments section.

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